Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Fairy gardens are the latest kid-crafting rage and they're as cute as they promise to be. They need a few more items than you might typically have around the house but nothing that's too hard to come by.

Make a box or use any sizable planter you might have lying around. Fill it with soil and (if you like) hot glue twigs as a fence around the outside then weave ivy or twine or anything your creativity can come up with in between the twigs to make a fairy-like fence around your garden and start planting.

Small plants are best. You can get fancy miniatures or just go for plants such as china dolls or baby's tears that have tiny leaves naturally. Use moss to fill in spaces if you'd like and scrounge through your house to find tiny treats to serve as fairy furniture for your little wonder garden. Spools for tables, rocks glued together for chairs, paper umbrellas, miniature furniture, whatever.

I've used some old miniatures I had laying around: a tiny stone fish fountain, tiny bricks and a stone garden bench then used tiny seashells to outline the path and a larger seashell as a hat.

HGTV has more detailed instructions but these are getting to be so popular you could find them all over the place with a quick Google search.